Kruen: She is renowned for her stern no-nonsense approach to politics - but Angela Merkel looked uncharacteristically chirpy today at she chatted to guests outside the G7 summit in Bavaria.
The German chancellor seemed to have fellow world leaders in stitches as she welcomed them to the second day of the event at the Elmau castle in Kruen.
In one photo, Ms Merkel appears ready to burst into song as she gestures enthusiastically to Barack Obama while stood in front of the Bavarian Alps in a scene reminiscent of The Sound Of Music.
The president looked particularly relaxed as he sat back on a bench listening to Ms Merkel while absorbing the spectacular views of the valley.
She later adopted the same pose - with arms outstretched in theatrical fashion - while talking with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other guests of the event.
And despite their sometimes-rocky relationship, the chancellor even won a laugh from David Cameron as she strolled with him and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper before the hilltop summit.
Today the Group of Seven (G7) industrial nations focused mainly on the international security threat posed by ISIS, 'Russian aggression' in Ukraine and climate change.
Speaking on the issue of Russia, Merkel, who was recently voted the world's most powerful woman, said Europe 'could toughen the sanctions if the situation requires us to do so.'
The leaders want Russia and Ukraine to comply with a February 12 ceasefire agreed in the Belarus capital Minsk that largely halted fighting in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces.
Speaking in a press conference, President Obama added: 'As we've seen again in recent days, Russian forces continue to operate in eastern Ukraine, violating Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
'Russia is in deep recession. So Russia's actions in Ukraine are hurting Russia and hurting the Russian people. And the G7 is making it clear that if necessary we stand ready to impose additional significant sanctions against Russia.'
Speaking on the same matter, Cameron said the world should remember that the Ukrainians are 'the victims, not the aggressors', adding: 'Existing sanctions must remain in place until the Minsk agreements are fully implemented.'
Ms Merkel, once dubbed the 'climate chancellor', also led efforts to strike a deal on specific emissions goals ahead of a larger year-end UN climate meeting in Paris.
Today leaders agreed on measures to limit global warming by 2C by 2100 and to cut greenhouse gasses by between 40 and 70 per cent by 2050.
The leaders also discussed the Greek debt crisis as a group and also in bilateral meetings during the summit at the foot of Germany's highest mountain, the Zugspitze.
Ms Merkel said there was not much time left for a debt deal to keep Greece in the euro zone and that Europe was prepared to show solidarity if Athens implemented economic reforms.
'We want Greece to remain part of the euro zone but we take the clear position that solidarity with Greece requires that Greece makes proposals and implements reforms,' she said.
'There isn't much time left. Everyone is working intensively. The day after tomorrow there will be opportunity to discuss it with the Greek prime minister. Every day counts now,' she added.
Greece's leftist government last week rejected proposals for a cash-for-reforms deal put forward by European lenders and the International Monetary Fund, but has yet to put forward its own alternative to unlock aid funds that expire at the end of June.
The Group of Seven major economies also pledged to increase vocational training for women in developing countries by a third by 2030 - one of a series of measures aimed at combating poverty and disease.
Barring Russian President Vladimir Putin for a third time from the summit, the G7 leaders invited others beyond the club of rich nations, including Iraq's premier and Nigeria's president, both battling Islamist violence.
Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi discussed the U.S.-led campaign to help his country fight ISIS who launched a lightning offensive a year ago and have snatched over a third of the country's territory.
During a one-on-one with Obama, the president admitted the US does not yet have a 'complete strategy' for helping Iraq regain territory from ISIS.
He said the Pentagon was reviewing ways to help Iraq train and equip its forces and claimed a full commitment to the process was needed by the Iraqis themselves.
ISIS has recently made significant gains in Iraq, including the conquest of the city of Ramadi, despite US-led coalition air strikes.
But Mr Obama said that the 3,000 US service personnel in Iraq sometimes found themselves with 'more training capacity than we've got recruits', the BBC reports.
Today's power summit, held in a tightly-secured resort in the picture-postcard Bavarian Alps, also saw talks on 'foreign fighters' and the threat Islamist extremism poses to their countries - Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
Another visitor to the summit, Nigeria's newly elected President Muhammadu Buhari, put a 'shopping list' to the G7 leaders, seeking help to fight an insurgency by Boko Haram Islamists blamed for 15,000 deaths since 2009.
Buhari has been tested with 11 separate attacks that have left at least 93 dead in the week he has been in the job.
The Nigerian government says he has told Francoise Hollande that his country would welcome greater support from other nations in its effort to end Boko Haram's insurgency.
The first day of the G7 was dominated by the Ukraine conflict, as Obama and the summit host, Chancellor Angela Merkel, urged the global community to stand firm against Moscow until it complies with a Ukraine ceasefire deal struck in the Belarussian capital Minsk.
'I expect that we should send a firm signal here. Not sanctions as an end to itself, but sanctions... to reach a target,' Merkel told ZDF television.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Canada's Stephen Harper on Saturday made a point of visiting Kiev on their way to the summit, to voice support for Ukraine's embattled leaders, as a recent flare-up in fighting in the east has left at least 28 dead.
Although Putin has insisted that 'there's no need to be afraid of Russia', the latest escalation has sparked fears that the hard-won ceasefire brokered by France and Germany four months ago could be derailed.
Yesterday, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker hit out at Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tspiras saying he has misrepresented the EU's offer to Athens.
And confusion broke out Monday when a French official told reporters Obama had complained about the strength of the dollar - comments swiftly quashed by a US official.
Merkel and French President Francois Hollande were reported to have reached consensus with G7 counterparts on another burning global issue, climate change, ahead of a crunch year-end United Nations summit in Paris.
The aim is to send a clear signal to push other nations taking part in the Paris meeting to commit to reducing dangerous greenhouse gas emissions, which threaten to melt ice caps and glaciers, raise sea levels and bring more violent storms and floods.
'Commitments have to be made at the G7. At the moment, the communique is going in the right direction,' said Hollande before the second day of talks.
He earlier said he would be pushing for 'realistic and objective' commitments to reduce global warming in the coming years.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was expected to draw attention to a pressing regional issue - China's assertions over most of the disputed South China Sea, where its territorial claims clash with those of several other nations.
Campaigners on the environment and poverty welcomed the G7's declaration of support for 'deep cuts' in greenhouse gas emissions and decarbonisation of the world economy by the end of the century.
The communique voiced 'strong determination' to secure agreement at a key climate change conference in Paris in November, with targets for greenhouse gas emission cuts by 2050 at the 'upper end' of the 40-70% range recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The executive director of Greenpeace UK, John Sauven, said: 'G7 leaders have today signalled a fundamental transformation of the global energy economy by the middle of this century. The age of fossil fuels is coming to an end.
David Cameron's task now, is to capture the full benefits of this revolution for Britain's economy; and to ensure that it contributes to alleviating poverty and delivering energy access in the developing world.'
Oxfam G7 spokesman Jorn Kalinski said the G7 countries had indicated that 'fossil fuels are on their way out', but added that this was not reflected in their own national emission reduction pledges.
'G7 leaders are starting to talk the right language but they must now live up to their own rhetoric and kick their dirty coal habit,' said Mr Kalinski.
'They must also reassure developing countries that they will keep their promise to deliver 100 billion US dollars by 2020 for climate action in developing countries, and provide the additional predictable funding needed in the longer term.'
